Holocaust and Genocide Education:
Sharing Experience Across Borders

Session 535

Abstract

This symposium, the third within Salzburg Global Seminar's Holocaust Education and Genocide Prevention series, will examine the challenges and successes in the teaching and remembrance of the Holocaust and other genocides outside of North America and Europe, focusing particularly on countries that are not members of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. The symposium will convene educators, civil society leaders, museum directors, policy makers, public officials and others working in the field of Holocaust education and genocide prevention to engage with the following issues:

Can the lessons from the Holocaust and other genocides serve as a framework to warn future generations of pending mass atrocities?

What can be learned from these events to enable preventive measures in the future?

How can the lessons of the Holocaust be brought to future generations, especially in the world beyond Europe, North America and Israel?

How are the Holocaust and other genocides taught and commemorated in other areas of the globe?

Are there strategies to counteract Holocaust and genocide denial and distortion?

This symposium is supported by our partnership with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Austrian Future Fund, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, and other donors. It will further strengthen and expand the Salzburg Initiative's global network of partners, enabling them to implement activities that spread awareness about the Holocaust, Holocaust education, and genocide prevention and reach an ever-growing number of young people in ways appropriate to different cultures and countries.

Participant Profile

This symposium, chaired by Dr. Klaus Mueller, European Representative of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, will bring together 35-40 educators, representatives from civil society organizations, directors of museums and memorials, policymakers, and others engaged in Holocaust and genocide remembrance and education from countries outside Western Europe, North America and Israel.

Program Goals

An expanding network of active partners who will:

spread awareness about the Holocaust, Holocaust education, and genocide prevention in their own societies;

encourage education policy-makers, civil society organizations, and government institutions in their own and in other countries and regions to develop remembrance programs drawing on the lessons of the Holocaust and past genocides;

share their respective models and frameworks with others interested in developing programs on Holocaust and genocide education and remembrance; and

build their own networks that provide further resources and opportunities to engage local stakeholders, such as leaders of civil society organizations, policy-makers and advocates working toward prevention of genocide, anti-Semitism, human rights abuses, and racism;

increased information on Holocaust education and genocide prevention measures, scholarship, resources and other related materials for posting on a new designated website on Holocaust education in non-IHRA member countries;

Session Report

Multi-year Program

Over the last half century a great many programs on Holocaust education and initiatives on Holocaust remembrance have been launched and continue to be implemented in countries primarily located in Europe and North America and Israel, most of whom are members of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). However, little is known about programs and initiatives on the subject outside of IHRA.

Salzburg Global Seminar, together with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, seeks to bring greater awareness of Holocaust education and remembrance programs in other countries with the objective of fostering dialogue, promoting tolerance, and providing a knowledge-sharing resource platform.